CARMEL, Ind. – The Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) is set to hose the 2023 Baseball and 2023 Softball championships in Kokomo, ind. and Lexington, Ky. respectively.
2023 HCAC Baseball Championship Page
2023 HCAC Softball Championship Page
The baseball championship is being hosted in a neutral location at the Kokomo Municipal Stadium. This is the first year the tournament will feature the top-six teams from the HCAC regular season.
Locking up the regular season title and the No. 1 seed was Franklin College, whose 18-4 mark in league play led the pack. Coming in with the No. 2 seed behind a 15-7 league record was Transylvania University, who secured the remaining first-round bye. Bluffton University secured the No. 3 seed after finishing conference play with a 14-8 record. At No. 4, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology finished conference play with a 13-9 mark. Anderson University and Manchester University each finished with conference records of 12-10, punching their tickets to the tournament, but Anderson got the tie break and the No. 5 seed, putting the Spartans in the tournament as the No. 6 seed.
The first pitch will feature the No. 3 Bluffton Beavers facing off against the No. 6 Manchester Spartans, with a 10 a.m. start time. The second game will showcase the No. 4 Rose-Hulman Fightin’ Engineers against the No. 5 seeded Anderson Ravens, with first pitch at 1:15 p.m. The No. 1 Franklin Grizzlies will see action in the afternoon contest, with a 4:30 p.m. opening pitch, facing the lowest remaining seed. The night-cap will see the No. 2 seed Transylvania Pioneers face off against the other advancing team.
The baseball tournament will be a double elimination tournament with games set for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, with an as necessary Sunday game.
Down south, the 2023 HCAC Softball Championship will also get underway on Thursday in Lexington, Ky. on the campus of Transylvania. This is the first year the tournament will feature the top-six teams from the HCAC regular season.
The Pioneers earned the regular season title and the right to host with their No. 1 seed following a 15-1 run through conference play. Picking up the other first-round bye was Mount St. Joseph University, whose 14-2 mark was good enough to claim the No. 2 seed. Franklin earned the No. 3 seed with a 11-5 mark, while Manchester picked up the No. 4 slot, following a 10-6 league record. Hanover College and Defiance College were the final teams in, with each finishing the conference slate with 7-9 records, while the Panthers picked up the tiebreak and the No. 5 seed with the Yellowjackets taking the No. 6 seed.
The opening contest will get underway on Thursday at 10 a.m., with No. 4 Manchester facing off against No. 5 Hanover. In the second contest, No. 3 Franklin will see No. 6 Defiance, with that game set to start at 12:30 p.m. At 3 p.m., No. 1 Transylvania will await the winner of the Manchester/Hanover matchup. In the day’s finale No. 2 Mount St. Joseph will take on the winner of the Franklin/Defiance dual.
The softball tournament will be a double elimination tournament with games set for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, with an as necessary Sunday game.
For more information on HCAC baseball or softball, visit the websites of any of the participating schools, or go to the HCAC's home on the internet at www.heartlandconf.org. Be sure to stay up to date on all of your Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference news by following @HCACDIII on Twitter and by liking the "HCAC DIII" Facebook page.